The Impatient Patient - a Column by Doc Irish

I recently started listening to the audio version of Paul Davies’ book “The Demon in the Machine: How Hidden Webs of Information Are Solving the Mystery of Life.” Given my experience with Parkinson’s disease, I was prepared to recognize the title character. Instead, I met a surprisingly helpful little…

One of the strangest things about living with Parkinson’s disease is how inconsistent it can be. A movement that feels nearly impossible one moment can sometimes become easier a few seconds later. A person may struggle to initiate a step but then walk fluidly once they get going. A…

I’ve never been much of a gun person. Perhaps that’s why it took me so long to understand the shotgun that recently found its way back to my family. My father told me it originally belonged to my grandfather Howard’s uncle, Edward Bernard Mooney. The serial number indicates it was…

Rivalry made sense to me when it happened on a basketball court. Two teams, one ball, one scoreboard, and lines painted clearly enough that people yelling from the third row could pretend they saw everything perfectly. As a basketball official, I understood rivalry, and I loved it. Sports fans also…

There are moments when a disease stops being only a medical story and becomes a public trust story. A prevention story. A question of whether the people who know enough to act will do so in time. I think Parkinson’s disease is having one of those moments now. For years,…

When I was in high school and college, I had a summer job as a landscaper. Like a lot of summer jobs, it felt ordinary at the time. There were hot days, grass stains, and long hours as a young guy trying to make money and do the work in…

I returned home from the Parkinson’s Policy Forum in Washington, D.C., feeling two things at once: encouraged and unsettled. I felt encouraged because I was surrounded by passionate, committed people — advocates, care partners, researchers, clinicians, and people living with Parkinson’s disease — all working or change. I…

There’s a famous thought experiment called the Ship of Theseus. You replace one plank, then another, then another — until none of the original planks remain. The question is: Is it still the same ship? In living with Parkinson’s disease and building Brain Storm — a brain-training…

When you live with Parkinson’s disease long enough, you start to notice a pattern: The hard days rarely begin with some dramatic crash. They start with something subtle drifting out of alignment. The step is a little shorter. The timing is a little late. The hand doesn’t want to…

There’s a moment in every close basketball game that feels almost supernatural. The clock is ticking down, a desperate shot goes up, and in the space of a heartbeat, the whole arena goes silent. The ball is in the air. Will it go in? That thin slice of time —…